ClearCast HDTV indoor antenna -- overhyped?

[Jeffhs]

Greetings.

I saw an article yesterday (February 12, 2012) in my local newspaper (the ad is probably being run in newspapers across the U. S. as well) for a revolutionary new type of indoor TV antenna, from a company known as ClearCast. The company claims that this antenna will pull in up to 53 channels of TV in almost any reception area, even rural areas that presently receive (over the air) only NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX and PBS programming and may not have access to cable or satellite services. The antenna is wafer-thin and can be mounted anywhere in a room (preferably on or near a window) by means of suction cups, so no installation is required -- simply mount the antenna on/near the nearest window, connect the coax lead-in to your TV, and (supposedly) enjoy all the local TV stations your cable company presently delivers to your home for a (very high) fee that only seems to go up.

I live in a village of about 3250 population, located roughly one mile from the southern shore of Lake Erie and just under 40 miles from the seven TV transmitters serving Cleveland. The village is 610 feet above sea level. My question is simply this: will the ClearCast indoor HDTV antenna work in this area, or will it be a dud? (The company representative with whom I spoke over the phone and who took my order assured me that the antenna would, in fact, work in my area -- but still I have doubts.) I did check local antenna reception here some years ago (before the DTV transition), using a beat-up pair of TV rabbit ears without a UHF loop; I was able to receive only two stations (CBS WOIO 19 in Cleveland and a translator station, probably relaying a local religious TV station) well enough to watch, although I did have fair to poor reception of the other six local network affiliates including PBS.

That was then; this is now. I just (as in yesterday afternoon) ordered a Clear Cast indoor HDTV antenna, and will be awaiting its arrival. I will post the results of my experiments with the new antenna as soon as it arrives and I have had a chance to see just how many stations I can receive with it, hooked up to my flat screen.

I read an article online yesterday afternoon from a Syracuse, New York newspaper, however, that said antennas of this type are typically no better than the buck-and-a-half UHF bow-tie clip-on indoor ones that used to be available at Radio Shack and elsewhere, not to mention the even cheaper UHF loop antennas which were formerly provided with most new televisions in the late 1960s-'70s, when UHF TV was just getting started in this country.

Are the claims for the Clear Cast HDTV indoor antenna true, or are they just meaningless, overblown hype? Has anyone here on VK ever tried this or any other type of indoor HDTV antenna, and if so, what were your results and impressions? Are indoor HDTV antennas even worth their asking price, or are they junk, not unlike those gutless-wonder indoor TV antennas of the '60s disguised to look like oil lamps, animals, and the like? In those days, television signals were NTSC analog, and in many cases, good reception (even in color, in good signal areas) could be attained using rabbit ears, even if it meant buying a fancy Rembrandt all-channel antenna with huge UHF loops and a 12-position fine-tuning switch.

I am also eager to see if I can receive (using an indoor HDTV antenna, once my new Clear Cast one arrives here) the subchannels of the Cleveland network affiliates, as three of these stations now have subchannels (MeTV, Antenna TV and This TV, plus two subchannels of the Cleveland PBS station) I now get on cable. Are the subchannels separate low-power TV stations in their own right, or are they simply extensions (for want of a better word) of the parent station's main signal?

Thanks in advance.